Your doctor is unlikely to diagnose problem gambling

The chances of your Doctor recognising or even asking about chronic gambling problems is pretty remote according to the Royal College of General Practitioners which means that symptoms such as depression while possibly being linked to debt problems are not being linked to the cause. The vice chair of the college, Dr Clare Gerada, thinks more could be done and is being backed by the gambling charity GamCare who think that less than one percent of problem gamblers are getting help. A case in point is that of Mr Ian Semmell who says he thought of gambling as a way of making money but realised that compulsive gambling is a way of creating debt and losing houses, jobs etc. We hasten to add that we are talking serious addiction here and not someone who enjoys the odd flutter on the horses or controlled gambling at an online casino. He says that on numerous visits to his GP he was often asked about drugs or alcohol but never about gambling. Ian is one of the lucky ones and was eventually put in touch with GamCare who referred him to a residential centre. Andy McLellan who is the Chief Executive of GamCare also thinks that GPs are lagging behind in their approach to the problem; “They themselves are not particularly aware of the issues to do with problem gambling, and perhaps the connections with some of the symptoms they may be seeing” He also suggested that some GPs would not know what to do even if they discovered a problem. As a responsible online casino site we would encourage anyone who thinks they may have a problem to get in touch with GamCare but we hope the vast majority of our readers are in it for the fun and if a jackpot falls then well done, but don’t expect it to but enjoy the thrill of “maybe”.